Setts



Dec. 4, 1928. 1,693,622

' C. SPAULDING GREETING CARD STORING AND DISPLAYING HOLDER File d Fe 10, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 To-wl's you- A/Vlrry CHIFISTMAS Dec. 4, 1928. r 1,693,622

C. SPAULDING GREETING CARD STORING AND DISPLAYING HOLDER Filed Feb. l0, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 9 9 G O O O o o o 33 12 .10, f 32 Wis fi m;

Invewfir I Charles s wzda 6 W ZZZ'Zli J'.

Patented Dec. 4, 1928 V UNITED srArEs 1,693,622 ear oFFic CHARLES sP'AULnrNe, or. HINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, Assrerroa TO ,sraunnrnm MOSS COMPANY, OF

SETTS.

Application filed February This invention relates to means for the protection, display andsale of articles such l as greeting cards.

perfectly protected against damage,

associated with the stock as to enable acustomer to easily take possession of an unsoiled All retail dealers in greeting cards and other articles which are now sub ectito handling by customers, "suffer. serious losses in stock and profits by the continual soiling and damaging of the articles. Exposure to dust, the handling by customers, the time required to erase finger marks, the mixing up and jumbllngrtogether' of various s1zes and kinds, and when the'articles are greeting cards the misplacements of the proper envelo es are seriousvand expensive annoyances.

P i Customers will not purchasea so led article.

If the sample is soiled, they look for another one and in doing so inadvertently soil others. This leaves on the dealers hands a quantity of quite unsalable articles. The principal object. of the present invention is to provide means for maintaining a stock of articles such as greeting cards in perfect, salable condition, with a sample article of the stock completely visible and yet and so duplicate of such sample. I attain this ob ject by providing a box or container for a.

stock of the articles, said container having a loosely mounted cover which contains and protects a sample article, the said cover hav ing a transparent upper member to render the contained article visible, the cover being I easily raised to give access tot-he stock of articles below it. v

Another object of the invention is to provide a storing, displaying and protecting outfit for greeting cards and samplesthereof, comprising a plurality or group of units, each composed of a box -and a cover characterized as above stated, the cover members of the unit being whollywithin the box memf bers and liftable so that the boxes maybe located closely together side by side'and in regular symmetrical rows on a table, with no vacant or waste spaces between adjacent boxes, such as would be required if the boxes hadlaterally movable drawers; and the box members being of uniform height, so that the covers may be located in the same plane, and thus advanta eously' displayed, the stora e spaces of theiox members being differently nropsrtioned, so that cards of difierent sises V the cover shown by'Figure 5.

BOSTON,'MASSACEUSETTS, A. CORPORATION OF MASSACHU- GREETING-CARD STORING DISPLAYING HOLDER.

1 0, 1 925. ,seri'ai No; 8,148.

may be stored, displayed and protected'by the outfit.

Standard makes of greeting cards are of two types, viz, a single leaf fiat card, printed on one side only, and a so-called folder in eluding two'connected leaves, each bearing printed n1attcr,the-folder being in some cases j accompanied by an intermedlate print-ed leaf secured to the holder by a ribbon.

The cover of my improved holder may be constructed as hereinafter described, to re? ceive, protect and display a greeting card of either of the types above mentioned.

' Of the accompanying drawings forming a 3 partof this specification Figure he a plan view of a holder embodying the invention.

ure 1.

Figure 3 is asectional view of the'cover, .75 omitted, the card being of the single leaf on line 33 of Figure 1, the box being a modification.

Figure 6 shows separately andlin'" section Figure 7' 's a view similar to Figure 3,

I Figure 2 is a section on line'2 2 ofFigs Figure 5 shows aportion of the box in sec- ;t1on' on 'l1ne 33 of' Figureel, and a cover used'with a greeting card of the folder type.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section showing 7 f showing a cover differently constructed, and

a card'of the single leaf type.

ure 7.

In the drawings, '12 designates. a prefer-- ably rectangul ar box adapted to contain a stock of greeting cards; Bearing removably on the box above the cards therein and liftable togive accessto the said stock, is a cover r formedpas a pocket, adapted'to receive one fofthecards as a sample, and liaving' means "for protectingiand cen pletely displaying the sample earth Figure 8is a section on line'88 ofFig- Figure 9 isa view. similar to Figure 1,

a section on. line 10-10 of a storing, displaying'and protecting Figures 1, 2-, 3, l, '4' and 8 show cards 13 of the single leaf type, and a cover forming a pocket, the wall of which is adapted to bear closely on and cover the sides of a sample card 13,- so that the card cannot be defaced by d-i'ist and by finger contact. The pocket is open at one or more edges, so that the card may be readily inserted and removed,by an edgewise movement. The pocket wall includes trans parent material, preferably sheet celluloid, of sufficient area to cover a printed side of the card, the transparency of this material per mitting inspection of the card while it is en tirely protected.

In the embodiment shown by Figures 1, 2 and 3, the cover is not made entirely of transparent material, and includes a stiff base portion 15, which may be of boizboard, and a transparent portion 16, which may be a sheet of celluloid, placed on the portion 15, and connected therewith in such manner that the two portions form a pocket which is practically closed at one or more of its edges, and open at another edge or edges for the recep tion and removal of the card. The said portions may be connected in any desired manner, as by metallic fasteners 1., as shown by Figures 1 and 3, or oy cementing parts of the transparent portion to corresponding parts of the base portion, z p

Figure 4 shows an edge of the transparent portion folded over an edge of the base portion,and extended to form a flap 16 which may be cemented to the underside of the base portion 15, or held by friction, or by metallic fasteners, Other edges of the transparent portion may be similarly secured to the base portion. i

To provide for the convenient application and removal of the cover, and prevent its edgcwise displacement when in use, I provide the box with internal cover-supporting means located below the upper edge of the box,- the c'over being formed to enter the mouth of the bOTZ and bear removably on the said supporting means, which may be embodied in ledges 18 and 19, secured at suitable points inside the box.- The supporting ledge 18- is in the form of a shelf having an area (Figure that will prevent the stock of articles below it from tilting so far as to fall outwhen the cover is lifted and the box somewhat tilted to facilitate removal of one or more ofthe stock.-

The arrangement is such that while the cover and its visible protected sample may be freely lifted from the box, edgewise displacement of the cover in any direction is prevented by the portion of the boX which projects above the ,cover supporting means. To facilitate the removal of the cover, I. provide in an edge portion thereof, a recess or opening 20', in which a finger may be inserted, preparatory to graspingand lifting the cover.

When the cover includes the base portion 15, I prefer to extend one eoge of the base portion from the corresponding edge of the transparent portion 16, the recess 20 being formed in this extension, so that the recess is outside the area of the pocket. The base porother closed edges may be formed by strips 16 of the same material,cemented to the pee tions 16, as shown by Figure 8. The cover thus constructed may removably rest on the cover-supporting means inside the box, like the cover first described.

Figures 5 and 6 show cover adapted to protect and display a card of the double or folder type, composed of two leaves 92, and

neck 23, connecting the leaves. In this instance, the cover includes four transparent wall portions 24, and connecting necks 25 and 26, the poclzetbeingi branched orbifurcated.

The leaves 2:2 are inserted in the branches of he pocket, with the neck 23 aoent to the open edge or mouth of the pocket, as shown by Figure 5, so that the card may be conveniently inserted and removed. r

In case the card has an intermediate leaf, this may be inserted with one of the leaves 22 in one of the branches of the pocket. This cover, like those previously described, may rest on the cover-supporting means. 4

The cover may be hinged to the box, as shown by Figures 9 and 10. The cover in this instance includes a stiff base portion 30, having an upstanding marginal flange 31, the transparent portion 16 being secured to the base portionbyfasteners 1?, the opening 20 being an orifice in the base portion.

A hinge connection is provided by a strip 82 of flexible material, such as textile fabric, cemented, or otherwise secured to one end of the hon, and to the portion. of the flange 81 at one end of the cover, the strip 32 including a flexible neck portion 33, permitting a swinging movement of the cover.

l Vhen the cover is hinged to the boX as described, it is still freely liftable' to give access to a stock in theboX similar to the sample visibly exposed in the protecting cover.

It will be seen that in each of the described embodiments of the invention, the upper edge of the boX projects above the cow er-su'lingorting means, and constitutes a curb, confining the sample-display and protecting cover a "ainst edgewise displacement when it is cosed. The closed, sample-exhibiting cover is, therefore, wholly within the boX and fits the curb so loosely that the cover may be freely displaced upward from its operative position, without having a tendency to lift or displace the box.

As shown by Figure 11,'a storing, displaying and protecting outfit for greeting cards of various sizes, may be provided by assembling a plurality or group of the described holders in a row, in which the box members contact with each other, without vacant spaces therebetween such as would be re-- quired if cards were in drawers, the box members being of uniform height, so that the cover members are arranged in the same plane, with all the varying samples equally visible. As illustrated, the storage spaces may be difierently proportioned, so that cards of different sizes maybe stored, displayed, and protected by the out-fit. e

In such an outfit, the boxes 12 areipreferablv so proportioned that some ofthe boxes extend continuously across the row, their 1 length determining the width of the row,

while other boxes, each having a witdh which is a sub-multiple of the width of the row, ex-

tend lengthwise of the row and are arranged side by side, the result being a row of uniform' width from end to end.

As above stated, the boxes are of uniform height.

Therefore, although there may be many more articles in some boxes than in others, the entire display will appear to be uniform in quantity, because a sample of each is exhibited just within the top of each box and with all of'the samples in one plane.

This equal display not only adds to the attractiveness of the whole, but also facilitates examination and selection by a customer because no looking into a nearly empty box is ever required.

It is obvious that the outfit may include a sufficient number of holders to form two or more rows of uniform length and width.

The outfit may be supplied to retailers of greeting cards, and used to contain cards removed from the more closely fitting boxes in which they are shipped by the manufacturers.

When the covers are bodily removable from the boxes, the removal of a cover permits more convenient inspection of the sample card which isheld, displayed, and protected by that cover, than is the case when thecover An important advantage, for all purposes,

may be used season after season, entirely is that the display boxes such as described I.

eliminating all losses due to soiling an d damage to the articles; and even the sample articles are salable after the remainder of the stocks has been sold out, thereby avoiding an accumulation of unsalab-le samples.

'I claim: V v

LA container fora stock of articles, said container having a loosely mounted cover constructed as a pocket to contain and protect a sample article, the upper member of said pocket cover being transparentto render the contained article visible, said cover having a finger-receiving. space to facilitate examination of the sample and access to the e stock below it.

' 2. A container for a stock of artlcles, said contalner comprising a box having a supporting shelf fixed within the box, and below the tops of thewalls thereof, and arranged to permit access to stock articles below it, and

to prevent accidentalremoval of said articles, and a cover constructed as a sample exhibiting pocket loosely mounted on said shelf and freely movable togive access to a stock of articles belowthe shelf. 7

3. A container fora stock of articles, said container havinga loosely mounted cover constructed as a pocket to contain andprotect a sample article, the upper member of said pocket cover being transparent to render the contained article visible, said cover having means for facilitating examination of the sampleand access to the stock belo-wit.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

- oHAR Es SPAULDING. 

